As if she were not busy enough, after a year of painstaking research Piedmont City Clerk Ann Swift has penned a 200-page book on Piedmont’s centennial homes.

The book may be ordered online or purchased at Piedmont City Hall.

“Ann didn’t take this lightly. She used recognized historical research techniques. It’s the first of its type (for Piedmont) and very comprehensive,” said Michael Bruck, the former mayor and Centennial Committee chairman.

This past year, the city has hosted a variety of events to celebrate its 100th birthday. The book highlights the city’s rich historic legacy, Piedmont being home to authors, tycoons, artists and other prominent people. Following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the wealthy flocked to the fledgling city to build their mansions and leave their mark on history.

The scenic winding streets of Piedmont are lined with Tudors, Victorians, Craftsman, bungalows and other architectural treasures, some designed by prominent architects such as Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan.

Beach Soule had prominent architect Walter J. Mathews, who had designed San Francisco’s Orpheum Theater and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, divine a magnificent 5,600-square foot Craftsman house on Oakland Avenue that contained a 6-foot diameter stained glass rotunda.

Soule’s wife, Ethel, took ill shortly after the couple moved in, and died soon after at age 30. Soule was so heartbroken he left the house, never to return, leaving his sister to raise his two sons.

Today, Akane Prince lives in the rambling house, raising her three school-age children. When she divorced, she loved the house so much she bought off her spouse to keep it.

“In reality, I bought the house twice, but I don’t regret it at all,” she said.

“I love being close to the schools, hearing kids playing at Havens. The proportions of the house are just perfect for our big personalities.”

Of the book, Prince said, “When we bought this house, we knew so little about it. It’s so interesting to have this kind of information on the home you live in.”

In some cases, Swift visited the homeowners of centennial houses to learn more, and share the information she had gleaned.

Marilyn and John Clowdsley bought their American Foursquare-style house on Mesa Avenue in 1960. John Clowdsley was an architect, and the young couple saw promise in the dilapidated house that had vines growing in the windows and through the floorboards.

Over the years, the Clowdsleys upgraded the house to accommodate their growing family, turning large closets into bathrooms of which there was only one when they moved in. Now retired, they converted the basement into an extra living space for guests, love the neighborhood and would never move, Marilyn said.

“The charm in this house is its simplicity, the paneled doors, leaded glass windows, simple lines,” Marilyn Clowdsley said. “I don’t believe it seems dated. The house is very straightforward.”

During some remodeling, the couple found the original blueprints of the house in an old window seat and gave them to Swift who has included them in the book.

In researching for the book, Swift chose only 100-plus-year old houses where the footprint or the basic shape of the house remained intact. Many historic houses have been torn down over time, or extensively remodeled changing their character.

Swift is an historic house buff and the city’s archivist. She leads walking tours through the city and gives lectures on the lore and history of Piedmont. When she began the project, she thought she would be profiling maybe 50 or 60 houses. It ended up being 170 houses.

With help from Gail Lombardi, who’s on the board of the Piedmont Historical Society, and Martha Jones, who transcribed 1910 census information, Swift and the others had to confirm addresses on old plat maps because many streets and addresses had changed over the years.

Swift researched online newspaper archives, pulled old city documents, sought the help of the California Historical Society and state historic archives, snooped in Piedmont Building Association records of 1908 and pored over 1908 tax rolls.

In her quest, she unearthed sweet stories and sad about the houses’ early occupants.

An old washerwoman who lived in a cottage on one estate ended up raising the children who lived in the property’s mansion due to some misfortune in the family. A pair of spinster sisters took their lives by turning on the gas in the kitchen when they realized they had no money to stay in their house. A tycoon put an ad in the paper begging residents to find his son’s little puppy that had run away.

These and other anecdotes are included in many descriptions of the houses and their history.

The book is also beautifully illustrated with archival photos, blueprints, maps and newspaper accounts of the time. Swift worked tirelessly on weekends and after work hours to finish the massive project, poring through volumes of file folders of information.

As part of the historic project, centennial homeowners can order a bronze commemorative plaque for $215 to place on their homes. The plaques bear the city’s signature thistle logo. Bruck said each homeowner will receive a letter and invitation to purchase the plaque as part of the centennial project.

The project was underwritten by donations totaling about $10,000 from The Grubb Company, Norman Givant, Denny and Ruth McLeod, Carl and Margo Anderson and Dan Christopoulos. Proceeds from the sale of the book and plaques will help defray the costs of the city’s centennial activities, Swift said.

“This was an enormous undertaking, and should be of great interest to people who like history,” Bruck said.